My name is Claude Sylvestre. I am a veteran of the war of 1939-1945. I was wounded in Italy while I was fighting with the Royal 22nd Regiment. I will only give you an overview, but I will include some details. The rest you have in your copies. I am sorry, but at 20 cents a word, having the brief translated into English would have cost a fortune.
The Veterans Review and Appeal Board, located in Charlottetown, is one of the only organizations in the world with a mandate to deliver extremely important rulings for war veterans, and to simultaneously decide whether a decision is valid, including all of its details. In other words, the board is both judge and jury. I have included copies of the legal provisions which are always ignored under the act.
The authorities in Charlottetown seem to have carte blanche to do what they want: hire staff, give themselves promotions, prohibit us from entering district offices. The War Veterans Allowance Act does not seem to exist for them. They seem to feel they have all the evidence they need. They even managed to include restrictions on the duties of the ombudsman, and in so doing completely paralyzed his work, since a war veteran must appeal a decision, yet when a ruling is made, he is not allowed to touch it — I would invite you to read the ombudsman's duties; there are only two.
Contrary to the description which was copied and distributed to everyone at a meeting in Valcartier, people were appointed to the board in Charlottetown who seem to have been directed to settle any case which might be brought to the attention of the ombudsman in which no appeal was allowed. Therefore, they can control the ombudsman, who must do as the authorities say, which completely robs him of his independence.
When he studied my case, the ombudsman called me and assured me he would recommend to the minister that I receive compensation following surgery. Please refer to the document you were given. The ruling was upheld under the act and the regulations. It is impossible to find out which regulations were invoked, since there was no appeal.
In 2000, according to Google, there were over 37,485 public servants. But now, there are approximately 40,000 across Canada. Google cannot reveal that information; Charlottetown has seen to that. It took over the duties of district office employees and hired staff, and it has opened satellite offices — which are completely useless and must cost a fortune — favouring friends and increasing their pensions.
Incidentally, no deputy minister understands a word of French. So a lower-ranking correspondence officer writes a letter in French, which is dictated by a superior. This is what he has the deputy minister saying: “The changes to the district offices were made in the interest of freeing up staff to help you.” That is a good one, because, as it now stands, these offices are not allowed to serve Second World War veterans. We cannot get any service, we cannot even phone. I will talk about trying to call them later on.
This decision, which was taken in 2000, was catastrophic for dozens of war veterans, because until 2000, the district office employees visited the veterans in their homes, whereas the veterans who could still walk could go to the small district office. Charlottetown closed the office in 2000. Deprived of any kind of help, dozens of veterans, including some who were decorated for acts of bravery, died in total misery and penury. They never said anything, and they lived on welfare. They could not do anything because most of them were illiterate. They could not communicate in writing, and even less by phone.
I helped a fellow veteran from the Royal 22nd Regiment who was completely at a loss and whom I felt sorry for. I knew him very well, since he had been by my side on the Bren machine gun. We were being heavily bombarded, and another soldier was hit directly; his head landed in the ditch a metre away from my friend. A switch went off in my friend's head and he was never the same again. You can read his story in the file I gave you, which is entitled: “The Tragedy of a soldier of the Royal 22nd Regiment”. Six doctors tried to help him, but nothing worked.
We are extremely grateful to the Hon. Jean-Pierre Blackburn, who deigned to meet with us during a meeting at Valcartier. To my knowledge, it was the first time that a minister ever visited a group of soldiers. The following Wednesday, at our weekly lunch at Place-de-la-Capitale, in Quebec, the men celebrated by drinking a better kind of coffee. It was unprecedented!
My final recommendation would be that Ms. Sheila Fraser should carry out an administrative investigation of the way in which this surprise package works. They have always been free to do whatever they want, without any supervision. We, who belong to the veterans group that participated in the 1939-1945 war, are considered as a second class group. We are completely forgotten.
The famous Colonel Charles Forbes, who spent 18 months in combat and was one of the most highly decorated Canadians, recently asked for help from the district office, but he did not get any. They are not allowed to provide help to a veteran of the 1939-1945 war or to a veteran of the Korean War. If you try to get in touch with these people by telephone, you have to go through Kirkland Lake, where you have to tell your life story.
I called them and I said that I wanted to speak to Ms. Such-and-Such, who is a nurse. The operator then asked me why I wanted to meet a nurse. Frankly, there must be a limit! She never agreed to transfer my call, even if I knew very well that the nurse was in her office. She left a message on her answering machine. From that moment on, the nurse had two days to answer us. However, she had to make a report to Kirkland Lake. In fact, all the veterans of the 1939-1945 war and of the Korean War were transferred to Kirkland Lake. This is where their file ends up, no matter what they have to say about it, and they do not have the right to say very much about it.
We finally ended up taking care of the colonel. We tried to make some arrangements with soldiers from the 22nd Regiment who could help him and with women personnel who could help his wife, but nothing worked. We are forgotten citizens.
The file that I submitted to you contains all the explanations. However, I am sorry that I could not translate it.
Gentlemen, I have said what I had to say.